We recently connected with Rain Jordan and have shared our conversation below.

Rain, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

I started work on The Fearful Dogs Project around 2014 as a program for an animal welfare & protection nonprofit. Having first developed and tested several protocols for helping traumatized and fearful dogs and their caregivers, and also being a certified canine behavior professional, it soon became clear to me that a rigorous, comprehensive, step-by-step program was needed for this population to ensure that innocent dogs weren’t getting surrendered, euthanized, or suffering long-term from their fears. So I began offering programs for the public and for other animal services professionals, to ensure that people have the level of expertise needed to help. I’m proud of the program and believe it is the best of its kind. The challenges have been:

-Funding
-Theft of proprietary program elements and monopoly attempt by a large for-profit corporation
-Difficulty finding professionals willing to commit to the rigor required

Working with the general public is the top priority of TFDP, but I felt it was also important to create at least a few additional professional experts in the field of canine fear abatement and prevention. This way, there would be more access to the most humane and effective help for the public. I opened up the advanced professional program, offering the CCFAE certification (Certified Canine Fear Abatement Expert) for professional trainers, behavior consultants, shelter staff, and others in order to improve that access.

The challenge, I soon learned, was that potential candidates for certification often felt the rigor was too much. Feedback sometimes also focused on the cost of the advanced program as a barrier. On the first point, I could have made the program easier, but that would have defeated its purpose; instead, I essentially doubled down, making the program even more careful. I felt that making it easy would discourage candidates from becoming the experts they want to be and that are needed by the public. On the second point, I decided to offer partial scholarships when appropriate, and I’ve begun looking for scholarship fund donors so that the project could offer full scholarships to the most needy and willing.

We’ll see how this works out over time. The other challenge is a multi-faceted part of the whole: There are many dog training courses that offer “certificates” as well as several that offer true “certification.” The public doesn’t always realize the vast and important differences, which means that someone without specialized professional certification but who has certificates from taking, e.g., prerecorded online courses, may seem the same to a dog guardian in need of help. Unfortunately, the result may mean less success, if any, for the dog and guardian, which only increases the hardship and risk for both. While it’s understandable that pros with financial limitations may choose to avoid a more expensive program if there is a cheap, easy webinar that seems the same to the public, it’s an unfortunate situation for everyone. This problem is made even worse, if not dangerous, when a corporation offers the title “Certified” for cheap and easy courses that do not offer the rigor necessary for one to become an expert.

There is another challenge embedded inside the above: Many certificates as well as some certifications allow or even encourage aversive tools and methods such as pain, force, intimidation, coercion, and fear-leveraging on animals. Once again, the public doesn’t always know this, or may have been misled to believe that these methods are “humane” when they are not.

It is an unfortunate situation, but I won’t give up. I believe it is my responsibility as a humane, certified animal professional to not only serve, but also to protect dogs and their caregivers.

For those interested in learning more, The Fearful Dogs Project’s humane, anti-aversives position is summarized on the website, www.FearfulDogsProject.org .

Rain, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

About me, my practice, and my charity work:

My animal-related professional certifications include: Certified Behavior Consultant, Canine (CBCC-KA); Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA); Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training & Behavior Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), and, for The Fearful Dogs Project, I am the Certified Canine Fear Abatement Expert Instructor/Mentor. I also hold various certificates, including a Certificate of Excellence in Applied Animal Behavior (LLA) from Behavior Works, and another from them, How Research Works, as well a certificate in Aggression in Dogs. My private practices are Expert Canine (www.expertcanine.com) and Canine Fear Solutions (www.caninefearsolutions.com). I also founded and now volunteer for Protect Them All (a 501c3 animal rescue/profection nonprofit), developing and implementing its programs, including shelter programs, safe adoption programs, and specialist programs such as those offered by The Fearful Dogs Project. And I’ve authored several books about dogs.

I got into my industry unplanned: I was running a dog rescue and private shelter, and most of the dogs coming in had been abused, and were traumatized, fearful, or otherwise anxious and disadvantaged. For me, that meant taking immediate action to learn how to best provide not just their initial rescue and rehabilitation needs, but also their ongoing emotional, behavioral, preparation, protection, and wellness needs, so I first asked respected dog experts for guidance privately, then soon realized I would best serve the dogs by becoming fully certified, expanding and formalizing my animal behavior education. That’s what I did, thereafter broadening my reach by opening a private practice, but at the same time continuing work with the dogs in the shelter.

During the early years before opening the private practice where when learned that the initial rescue of an animal is just a small part of what rescue should be. We do a disservice if we take an animal off the street or from an abusive or neglectful situation but then neglect to offer the expertise and care to best ensure the animal is safe, feels safe, and becomes as prepared as possible to navigate the human world and its sometimes confusing, inconsistent, and even unfair rules. But moreover, we do a disservice to both dog and guardian if we do not also prepare the guardian by teaching them humane handling, treatment, training, care skills and knowledge as part of their adoption process. Lifesaving isn’t just that moment you intake an animal; lifesaving is a lifelong process for that animal, provided over its lifespan by the rescuer, shelterer, placement/adoption organization, and adopter.

The problem many rescuers and shelter staff face is in being told that they are only responsible for intake, necessary medical treatments, basic care, and rehoming. This leads to the problematic, marginalizing choice to not spend their resources on humane, expert behavior treatment, nor on proper training, preparation, and follow up for dog and adopter. Protect Them All’s programs offer solutions designed to last a lifetime, thereby ending the cycle of suffering and surrender while strengthening truly humane human-animal bonds.

You asked what sets me apart from others. I don’t think I’m the only one with a pressing desire to improve the lives as dogs and other animals taken as pets. I *may* be unusually–though not uniquely–willing to risk things like more income, opportunities, and popularity in order to advocate for better, lifelong protections for dogs. Meaning in life is what you make it, and this is what I’ve made mine.

To your question about what clients should know about me: Because my goal is to set them and their dogs on a path where they will eventually have what is needed to enjoy a life of happiness together rather than suffer frustation, fear, or even loss, I do not hold back truth. A common teaching in my profession–and in other professions, I’m sure–is that you should prioritize making the client feel comfortable and happy. Of course we all want to be happy and comfortable, but ultimately I want my clients to be happy long-term, not just during that teaching moment or the moments right after it. Finding ways to give the client the benefits of truthfulness, clarity, greater understanding, practice, improvement, and, ultimately, the independence from me and/or my colleagues that comes from them having developed skills that will serve them for their entire lives of dog guardianship — this is how I view my job and my obligation to my clients.

I feel like I’ve done my best job when, for example, an established client tells me about a problem she experienced with her dog over the weekend, and what she did to resolve it–that she didn’t have to wait to ask me what to do, because she now she understands how to apply what I taught her previously to new situations. This is the best kind of success.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

A foundational book for me was Jean Donaldson’s book The Culture Clash. Its premises are crucial. Even if the industry has made a few improvements in details of a few specific training protocols over the years, the philosophy underlying the book’s details are what makes The Culture Clash a timeless and necessary reference for every dog services professional.

Perhaps the least considered but one of the most important sections of the book is the discussion on euthanasia for behavior. This alone makes the book the most important in the industry, in my opinion.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On your question regarding a story of my journey that addresses resilience:

A few years after the nonprofit’s founding and the shelter’s opening, someone gathered a small group of people to implement a defamation campaign against myself and the rescue charity. Their goals were to get our donors to stop donating, get adopters to not adopt our dogs awaiting homes, and to “shut down” the charity. They contacted friends, rescue partners, previous adopters, etc., trying to cause breaking of ties. As a result, our work for the charity grew more difficult in many ways, not the least of which was we were left to pay for the care and needs of the charity’s now unadoptable dogs ourselves, eventually exhausting our personal funds, including our retirement savings. Their campaign on social media created a snowball effect where even absolute strangers joined in, and we began getting threatening phone calls, posts, emails, etc. As a result of the duress and distraction created, my spouse was fired from a 20+ year job, and I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.

We could have given up and/or simply shut down. But we did not. I took to heart the rather instructional proverb, “They tried to bury us; they didn’t know we were seeds.” For the sake of the dogs who remained in shelter and for the sake of dogs in general, we carried on, expanding our rescue efforts into lifelong lifesaving programs.

Back then, there wasn’t as much understanding of online harassment and bullying, so the common legal advice given was to just ignore it, not respond. We now know that it is better to self-defend rather than remain quiet if others are trying to cause harm.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fearfuldogsproject.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtforDogCharity